Employee dishonesty is the number one threat businesses face today. Your employees know your customers, vendors & contractors. Your internal audit systems and process will mitigate the opportunities a dishonest employee may have. Many if not most of the small to mid-sized businesses I meet during local chamber of commerce meetings have no systems developed to prevent a dishonest employee from acting.

My name is Frank Costa, and I’m a licensed private investigator located in the Hudson Valley area of New York. I started my loss prevention career as a store detective 17 years ago. Just out of high school, I thought it was a pretty cool job to catch shoplifters. It had its adrenaline pumping moments, when shoplifters refused to cooperate with the detention process. Fast forward just a few years later, I was promoted to a Loss Prevention Manager and then a had much different perspective on organizational losses. I worked for a Fortune 500 organization, which had enough funding to control the process and develop internal audits to control exposure. The organization utilized computer systems, surveillance equipment, and investigators to combat internal dishonesty. But what does a small to mid-sized business do who can’t allocate funds to combat risk?

3 simple tips to mitigate internal dishonesty

1.Employee screening – It’s a great thing when a business has to hire new employee. It shows the business is healthy and is growing. However, don’t forget to check the new applicants out. A Pre-Employment screening has a relatively low cost with high returns. A professional pre-employment screening service will provide you more than just a criminal history checks. The service may provide information regarding this individual previous address history, credit file, and driving records. Just because a person has been convicted of a crime does not mean they’re a bad person, they may have just made some bad decisions.

2.Drug testing- It’s not a bad idea to send prospective employee to a drug screening. An individual who has a habit of doing drugs may have a higher propensity to steal from their employer. There are some crafty folks out there who can find ways to pass a drug screening, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to send a recently hired individual to a random screening a few weeks after getting hire.

3.Internal audit- Hiring a loss prevention consultant to analyze your operations and identify key risk factors would be ideal. If your budget says otherwise, then taking a closer look at operation yourself. Identify your key areas of your business. Look at your revenue flow, think about what part of the flow would be the highest risk and develop a plan to check it. Think like a disgruntle employee, what would I do to sabotage the business?

It’s time to protect your bottom line. With the new year just about a month in, it’s a great time to think about how you will safeguard the key aspects of your business.

About NEXGEN Investigations

NEXGEN Investigative services offer a wide range of individual screening solutions to help meet your investigative needs. With over 15 years of investigative experience in both the investigative field and background research departments; the investigators will help you find the information necessary to make educated business, financial, and legal decisions.

Our research extends beyond a computer monitor and telephone inquiries, it extends to court house research and includes criminal records, civil litigation histories, driving records, residential histories and more. Our services are contracted by business owners, landlords, renting properties, attorneys and legal teams across New York.

The online background check screening portal is of enterprise quality, capable of handling 500 background check screening requests an hour. The system is configured to fill orders automatically, pulling information from their respective providers. The system can fill order requests from DMV abstracts detailing traffic court violations as well as criminal records from the Federal law enforcement agencies.

Medical, auto and worker’s compensation fraud are at the forefront of the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s focus. The incidence of fraud is pervasive, especially in new job applicants. NEXGEN’s background check system helps narrow down the selection of qualified candidates. Eliminate the risk of taking on a dishonest employee by verifying education and employment experience to limit your firm’s exposure to risk.

All sources accessed during the discovery detail the level of confidence of how credible the candidates information is. Notices with determinations can be automatically generated via email notifying the organization of the details the report and overall assessment. NEXGEN generates an “Adverse Letter” to all applicants deemed not well suited to the position applied to. The Fair Credit Report Act (FCRA) requires that applicants be notified in writing that an adverse action is being considered, this gives candidates time to challenge the report for any incorrect data.

About NEXGEN InvestigationsNEXGEN Investigative services offer a wide range of individual screening solutions to help meet your investigative needs. With over 15 years of investigative experience in both the investigative field and background research departments; our investigators will help you find the information necessary to make educated business, financial, and legal decisions.

Our research extends beyond a computer monitor and telephone inquiries, it extends to court house research and includes criminal records, civil litigation histories, driving records, residential histories and more. Our services are contracted by business owners, landlords, renting properties, attorneys and legal teams across New York.

NEXGEN Investigations was retained by the attorney representing the accused employee of assaulting an adult care center resident.

OUTCOME

Client criminal charges dismissed.

No evidence to support the allegation.

BACKGROUND
The accused employee’s presence was requested at the care center’s management office, advising him that a complaint had been made against him. The resident of the care center alleged that the employee assaulted the resident. After being advised of this accusation, the accused was then asked to leave the center. About a week later, the accused receive a phone call informing him that he has been terminated due to the assault charges levied against him. Shortly thereafter, the accused employee was contacted by law enforcement, advising the employee to turn himself in as criminal complaints have been filed against him.

Having retained legal counsel, the accused spent months in court failing to clear the charges brought against him. As you might imagine the loss of a steady pay check and having a baby on the way created additional anxiety and stress. Although innocent, the accused contemplated pleading guilty to a lesser charge as the stress of having lost his job and expecting a new baby weighed heavily on him to put this matter behind him. Upon searching more work, a former employer learned of this injustice and recommended the services of Frank Costa, Private Investigator.

DISCOVERY
Time is critical in any investigation, evidence is often compromised, leads dry up, witnesses skip town — Murphy’s Law. NEXGEN Investigations was contracted four months into the case, needless to say that makes any case a lot more difficult to locate witnesses, secure statements, and yes solve the case. After meeting with the attorney and client an investigative strategy was developed.

A preliminary investigation was conducted on the individual making the claims against my client, the accused.

CRITICAL POINTS

The accused fully cooperated with police and waived his right for council deeming that the charges were baseless. After the interview with law enforcement, several felony charges were filed, including assault on a defenseless adult.

Due diligence revealed that the resident’s mother was on the board of directors of this residential care facility. False accusations must be considered, as there is a clear case of bias.

The competency of the resident of the adult home who filed charges against the employee was found to be mentally disabled.

Social media investigations identified other contributing factors of bias, which although compelling could not be substantiated.

On the day of the alleged assault, two employees’ with direct knowledge of the event were never interviewed prior to the client’s arrest. These two employees were located and statements secured as to what occurred on the alleged date and time.

Both employees statements support my client’s claim of innocence, as they had direct observation of my client arrival and departure of the residence.

Upon further fact finding, statements were secured from the two employees who had direct observation of the accused whereabouts on the day of the incident.

Additionally it was found that the resident had exhibited signs of aggression towards the accused, having assaulted the employee on multiple occasions.

The attorney presented NEXGEN’s findings to the district attorney office, making a very compelling case to dismiss the charges. The accused criminal charges were dismissed, as there was no evidence to support the allegations.

NEXGEN conducts detailed risk assessments and fraud examinations in the public and private sectors. Frank Costa understands first hand, how companies suffer losses and how to manage risk. “It’s not a matter of if, but when”, all companies need risk management to stay profitable. Costa is also an expert in the area of performing pre-employment background investigations, workplace misconduct investigations, and criminal investigations.

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Mission Statement

Our mission at Nexgen Investigations & Protective Services, LLC. Is to provide our community superior private investigation services by working with our client’s best interests in mind. Our goal is to provide a superior investigative service that will help build strong relationships with our clients.

Our principals, of honesty, integrity, and dedication, can be seen with the receipt every one of our investigative assignments.

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